I would like to start learning how to reload and stuff. Without a grampa or dad that knows anything about guns, I will have to turn to here and books for help.

Any book recommendations???

Thanks!

There are a lot of good choices out there. I like the Lyman manual, and I like the Hornady paperback manual. If you study those carefully, you'll know the basics, and be able to produce good, safe ammo.

When you start, it is tempting to find a recipe, and crank out 200 or so rounds. Don't do that. Your tastes will change, and you'll end up with lots of ammo you don't really want. 20 or even 10 unit batches are just fine to begin with.

Go to Google and look for the web sites for Hornaday, Sierra, and Nosler. They will each have a section with a general discussion about reloading.

If I were buying a reloading book, it would be the Hodgdon manual because it provides data not only for their powders but, in popular calibers, for other powders as well.

Reloading is interesting, and I've learned more about physics doing it that I ever did in school.

If you get into it, remember always wear safety glasses and work up to a full load slowly. Have fun and load safe. Ku-dude

Cool Guy: Every reloading manual that is published by the various bullet maufacturers (Speer, Hornady, Nosler, etc.) has a chapter in it that thoroughly covers the reloading process from A to Z. You can often find inexpensive ones on eBay that may not be the latest edition, but are still quite useable - I paid $10 for a new 12th edition of the Speer manual when the current edition was the 13th. Good luck.

I collect reloading manuals but I think that the Speer is a very helpfull manual for the mechanics of reloading. It was my first manual and is quite worn at this point.
Safety first!
Shayne

I am looking at the book "Cartridges of the World".

Has anyone flipped through this book?

Thanks!

In a similar vein, I started reloading just last year. I went out and bought several manuals and I got good stuff out of all of them. The one I recommend first though has to be the Lyman manual. Just lots of good information.

You will want more than one, I like the Lyman the best.

I learned from Lyman 47th,speer 13,hogdons 27,Nosler #5
All very good books and loads.I bought rcbs dies and they have a 1-800 ? line for anyone having problems.You can also post on this site for help.Good Luck! I bought the RCBS master reloading kit.A+

Sierra, Hodgdon, Speer, Nosler, and Lee all have good info in them.

All of the major manuals are good. You can also go on line to the various powder companies & get good info. as well. Read alot, ask alot of questions & go do it. It's not rocket science but you do have to be careful & pay atttention to what you are doing.

RiflemanZ....

why does your pic have a pistol, rifleman??



In all honesty, get 2 or 3 versions of the same book, get a SPEER book, as it wont drive you mad, or a hornady... and leave the second book wraped for now

lyman is also good new

jeffe

I have ~ 50 load manuals.

I like the Sierra for rifles.

I like the free data from the powder companies for pistols:
http://www.accuratearms.com/
http://www.alliantpowder.com/
http://www.hodgdon.com/
http://www.vihtavuori.fi/
http://www.ramshot.com/
http://www.imrpowder.com/
http://www.westernpowders.com/
http://www.winchester.com/

Honady, Nosler, and Sierra etc. just have their bullets but lots of different powders.

Vihtavuori, Accurate, and Hodgdon etc. only have their powders, but lots of bullets.

"Speer 12" and "Speer 13" are the worst.

Lee is a copy of the powder manufactures load data.

I got allot of old manuals at gun shows and on ebay.

--
A society that teaches evolution as fact will breed a generation of atheists that will destroy the society. It is Darwinian.

All of the above information is really good. I would like to add my 2 bits worth.
If you live anywhere near a shooting range or can find a trap club you may want to go there and start talking to the different shooters about whether they reload or not. I have found most shooters love talking about and sharing information. You may find an invitation to see how it is done. There is nothing like hands on reloading. It will make sense out of all the information you gather from the above mentioned manuals. Visit as many different reloaders as you can. This will do two things. You will see many different set-ups and you won't overdo your welcome with any one person. Take the best from each just as you will take the best from each manual you read and then when it comes time to start your own setup you will be more aware.
Good luck and have fun.
Frank

Of all my reloading manuals I probably use Richard LEE'S second edition more than any now.It is far more diversified than the rest and I think it's because he copied a lot of everyone elses data.I started with speer #1 and Lyman. I stayed with Speer for many years but they just don't cover the subject matter as well as others do.

Get more than one manual but Make LEE one of them. Than talk to the guys on this forum. There is a greater wealth of info HERE than on any combination of manuals.

One further suggestion; keep good records;
1. Cartridge
2.bullet ,weight type and manufacturer
3.Powder weight,type, manufacturerand maybe lot#
4.case make( Rem, win,fc-----)
5. primer make and typ.
6.NOTES: data, results, performance, points of interest OAL,velocity, accuracy, crimped, sooty, felt recoil,over max. pull bullets. Stuff like this. It really pays off.
and we will help you.

I think If I had to narrow it down to just 2, MY Picks would be the Lyman 47th Edition and the Hodgdon Number 26.

Sierra 4 and 5 are also good sources that I would go with next.

I picked the first two because they have a lot of load data, using a lot of other company's powders included. They also use fast burning powders in load data.

Newer manuals keep migrating to slower powders.... Yeah, they can be lower pressure, but they also cause you to use a lot more of the powder and go thru it quicker... so the marketing dept sure must have a lot of input on the load data, or powders being used to obtain the data.

More powder accelerates throat wear and barrel wear. So i prefer the faster powders that you need less of and are more efficient. They are also just as accurate if not more so in some calibers I have tried them in.

Cheers and Good shooting
Seafire

Cartridges of the World has very little reloading information as far as recipes are concerned. They (it's now the 10th edition) do have relatively good measurement data, and is very good for cartridge collectors. Whatever manuals you do get, compare the loads for a given cartridge. If one manual is definitely different for that cartridge, be very careful. Mistakes do happen. The chances of several vendors making the same mistake is very small. Some reloading press manufacturers also have videos of reloading.

mjg

AFTER you have gone through the basic "how-to" books mostly listed above, I suggest, for some real in-depth understanding, you read P.O. Ackley's Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders, (2 volumes), AND Bob Hagel's Game Loads and Practical Ballistics for American Hunters!



BOTH of these works provide factual, useful information you can't get anywhere else, particularly not in recent reloading manuals!!

Depending on what your aim is, your choice in books will vary. I like to know everything about any subject I'm interested, so I tend towards going over board.
Back in the 50s, 60s, 70s the reloading hobby was trying to get off the ground. There were dozens of books written about the various aspects of reloading.
Get online and see if you can find books by George Nonte, Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, Ken Waters, Ackley these are all good background.
Find old copies of Handloader, Gun World, Shooting Times magazines. The old mags used to really delve into the reloading recipes, techniques, etc.
Most importantly have fun.
Jim

Like you, I started from "scratch" reloading. I do not have a dad or grandpa that I could rely on to ask questions about the steps involved, what to do, and what not to do when I first started handloading. I have to admit that I am somewhat the cautious type (especially when it comes to doing something that could blow up in your face) so I did quite a bit of reading before loading the first cartridge.

To that end, I think that many of the handloading databooks are good but they leave out information that a first time handloader needs to know. One book that I would recommend as a first read is called "The ABC's of Reloading" by Rodney James. It is simple to read and he walks you through the process and talks about what to look for and what to avoid. This book will fill in a lot of gaps for you. There are probably other similar types of books but I found this one to be helpful in getting started.

Good luck,
douglast

Well, everybody so far recommends current manuals, and that is a reasonable way to start. All of the current manuals use current powders, current tools, and current reloading supplies. But they lack something: they are necessarily brief and contain little whyfore and wherefore information.

Do a used book search on Alibris, Amazon, ABE books, etc., for one or more of these books. Some of the information is dated, but they can give you a lot of insight as to why you are doing what.

Earl Naramore's loading book. One of the most comprehensive ever written.

Phil Sharpe's book. Lots of now dated, but historically significant, information.

Col. Townsend Whelen's "Why Not Load Your Own." Just getting acquainted with this old gentleman's writing is a joy.

The NRA published some reloading manuals years ago. They are exceptionally complete on those topics which they cover. Especially good for .30-'06, .38 Spec. Target, .45 ACP, .308 Win., developing target loads and statistics, etc.

Let us not forget the NRA Cast Bullet books, the ASSRA cast bullet books, and the Lyman Cast bullet books. Wolf Publishing had some cast bullet books that were excellent--almost up to par with the NRA and Col. E.H. Harrison books.

Col Hatcher wrote "Hatcher's Notebook." It is not a reloading manual, but an information source on firearms and shooting. A very good read.

Hope that helps.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll definetely look into these.


Thanks again!

Sorry I omitted Phil Sharpe's book, The Complete Guide to Handloading. As mentioned above, its' loading data is pretty dated, because a lot of the powders, primers and bullets available to Phil are gone, but the info in the book is priceless. When it was published, it WAS the "complete" guide, even containing detailed info on the manufacture of smokeless powders!

I also agree that Naramore's book contains info you'll never get from any other source!

With no doubt in my mind at all, I'd say the BEST "reloading book" on today's market to my knowledge is Ken Waters' "Pet Loads" from Wolfe Publishing (www.riflemagazine.com).

Compared to this book, all the others are just recipe books. Waters goes into great detail about the rifles he used, the loading techniques, tooling used, bullet construction, functioning information, accuracy info...in other words, MUCH more than a regular reloading manual.

I imagine it might cost fifty bucks or more these days, but it's about the best money you'll ever spend in handloading, believe me.

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren Mk1)

Pet loads,Nosler,Sierra,A square and Hodgon manuals.
These don't only have lots of info but most of all give direction
as to the best combinations this I find helpfull because now a day's with 100 and more diff. powders it can save some money.
Nosler (just for Nosler bullets) list the best powder and charge for ea bullet/cart.combo
Sierra most acc load,A square list only powders that work for a cal.
Pet loads speaks for it's self

Regards Martin

I think my appetite for reloading and accuracy shooting was wetted by a book written by Warren Page called "The Accurate Rifle." It really lit my fire. As far as reloading manuals I have most but my favorites are Sierra and Nosler. They both list accurate loads that can cut down a lot of time spent finding good loads for your rifle.
Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

The older Lyman manuals have a feature they call accuracy loads. In the newer old manuals it is just an astric by a particular load in the column, but I have found that these loads usually work. Many times these loads end up being the best I can find.

Get Lyman's 48th reloading handbook as it is a great resource generally speaking. I have the 47th and it is my constant go to publication. I highly recomend then getting books from your favorite powder company and bullet company if available. These combos will allow you to cross reference quite a bit. I have thumbed Cartridges of the World and will do so again as I am starting to think about a 9.3x62 and I have no sources for it. Enjoy reloading it is fun.

seafire...

By reading your other posts, you certainly have more reloading experience than I do, so I am not trying to give you a hard time...I want to question one of your statements, though, because as a new reloader, I had a different understanding.

The question has to do with efficiency. From my reading so far, I understood efficiency to relate powder charge to having a fairly high load density, while also building decent pressure. Another way of saying this is that a case that is closer to being full while being around "optimum pressure" (whatever that is for a given cartridge) is a better place to start load development. In my rifles so far, that has proven true -- the "better" (more accurate) loads have been the ones to nearly fill the case. I would think that having a fairly high load density would also contribute to more consistent ignition, but this is related to speculation and theory, not actual experience. By the way, when I refer to filling the case, I am NOT suggesting that starting with a max load is the way to go; I am suggesting that a powder charge that starts at an 87% case density may be a better starting point than one at 37% (as a rule, anyway -- I'm sure there are exceptions). As an added benefit, it seems a safer way to start -- no chance of a double charge...

Now, to contribute to the actual question posed by the original post...just my thoughts, again, as a new reloader. The Nosler manual is nice because it lists the most accurate powders, at what charge, and also gives powder/case density percentages. The Sierra manual also has a nice design (notebook style), and it actually stays open without having to bend it open. It also has a good amount of data, which is more important than design. Some of the best data seems to come from the powder manufacturers themselves. It seems that they are not quite as conservative as the bullet manufacturers, which probably have to err on the side of TOO conservative for safety and legal reasons.